Laity Lodge Family Camp

I love my family but I don’t always like them. It’s ok they don’t always like me either. That is the way family is for all of us. There are times when you are sitting on top of the world. Your son or daughter comes up to you when you walk in the door, gives you a big hug and says I LOVE YOU! What an incredible feeling. You really like them then. But what about the time you are screaming at them for making the biggest mess ever. It’s going to take you hours to clean up and impossible if you were to ask them to do it. Anyway they have run off in the other room crying it’s unfair. You really don’t like them then.

It’s not just the kids you love. Your spouse is awesome too. It is the best when your spouse surprises you with something you have always wanted to do together without the kids. It is not the best when the two of you are arguing over who has been doing more for the family. Speaking of family, children and spouses are only the beginning. Let us not forget all those extended family members who add their own good and not so good times.

Over Christmas and New Years our family had the opportunity to visit both sides of our families. It was filled with fun and frustration. We had so much fun laughing and catching up family we don’t always get to see. It was wonderful to see reconciliation happen on Christmas day. At the same time you wished for more time with some and less with others.

To begin the new year we escaped and went to Santa Fe. It was just the four of us this year. We had an incredible time. There were so many times of laughter and joy. Like the time we built a snowman (it was a little squatty) and the birds ate the blueberry eyes. Or all of us on top of the mountain together before going down through Adventure Land led by our daughter.

Yet in all the fun there were still times of anger and frustration. No matter how good things can be there is always something that tempts us to want something else. This inevitably leads to some sort of conflict with someone else. What is it about us that longs for something else?

I believe that something was planted deep within our souls by a God who wants the very best for you and I. We love our family and our family loves us. But we don’t always like each other because we are only an imperfect reflection of the longing in our hearts. We fall short of what God wants for all of us. Even at our best we are not even close to God’s love for us. There is a deep desire in our hearts for someone else.

The temptation is to look to fulfill this longing in another person or thing. This seeking for fulfillment in others has led to countless broken relationships. We continue to seek fulfilment in another person. But the problem is you may love them but you won’t always like them. Inevitably you and I do things that cause others not to like us. I know you maybe the exception but it is a reality.

The only way you and I can grow in our relationships is to allow our innermost longing to be fulfilled by the one who loves us unconditionally. How do we love someone even when we don’t like them? Spend time the one who always loves you. Read the story of his love for you in the bible. Listen to this incredible God in your prayers. See his love for you in his people around you. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God looks at you through the person of Jesus Christ and sees the one he created us to be.

It is time for us to see ourselves through this same lense. To rest our longing souls in his love. The more we see ourselves through Jesus the more we see our family through this same vision. It doesn’t mean we or they will always do things we like. But it does mean we will be open to reconcile with them the way God has reconciled with us in Jesus Christ.

At Laity Lodge, Family Camp parents and children are spending quality time sharing themselves with each other. At our last family camp, one particular father thanked us for the weekend. He said his family had talked about canceling because they were just too busy with all their separate activities. But they came anyway. He said the weekend had turned out to be so important to their family with time to share and play with each other. How do we live authentic lives with our families?

During our fall retreats, the parents gather for an hour devotion and discussion on Saturday morning. We talk about the importance of being authentic with each other and our children. This means sharing the good and the bad from our lives at an age- ppropriate level. All too often, we keep ourselves protected from one another. This does not mean pouring every detail from a struggle at work on your five-year-old. It may mean giving our five-year-old a hug and apologizing for getting angry when it had nothing to do with them.

I remember one time my father came home from work and was very angry. I am sure his perfect children had nothing were not doing a thing wrong (okay, maybe we did something). He came in the door, threw down his things, and yelled. We all froze and then reacted according to our personality. My oldest sister yelled back. My brother analyzed the situation, my other sister ran off, and I tried to bring everybody together. A little later in the evening, when I was in my room, dad came in and asked to talk to me. He said something very significant that I have not forgotten. He said, “I am sorry for getting so angry. I had a hard day at work. Will you forgive me?” Dad asked me to forgive him.                       

Jesus modeled this authentic life with the way he related to his Father in heaven. He did not hide the fact he was struggling with the human desire to avoid the pain of the cross in the garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew 26:39, Jesus says to his Father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Time after time, parents share how they desire this authenticity with their children, their spouse, and even their parents.

Laity Lodge Family Camp brings together families from all different places. Sometimes families sign up individually. Some families come from the same church and know each other well while others do not know each other at all. On September 12th families came from Austin with a common bond. They all were previous staff/campers at Laity Lodge Youth Camp.

It was a crazy weekend because as the weekend approached Hurrican Ike was heading for Texas. It was unclear if would even have the camp. Some did have to cancel because of their family or work was effected by the hurrican and we missed them very much. Yet many were able to gather once again in this sacred place that influenced us all so many years ago.

The weekend was filled with great food, fun and exciting activities, wonderful conversation, and even some amazing music from the past. Thanks J.M., Beaver, Matt and Clay! We celebrated the difference this place made in our lives and began new memories that will change who we and our families our today. Thank you all for showing me once again the face of our loving God. I look forward to many friend filled years to come.  

Have you ever had a goldfish? A friend of mine told me a great story about his goldfish recently. His family built a pond in their front yard and placed numerous large goldfish in the pond to live. They fed the goldfish regularly and watched them grow. But one winter day it got really cold and the pond froze. Well the fish froze also. There in the pond were completely frozen fish. However in a few days it warmed up, as it does in South Texas, and my friend and his family went to the pond to retrieve the dead goldfish. Yet to their surprise the goldfish were happily swimming around in the pond more lively than ever. The goldfish who were thought to be dead were alive. They had a second chance.

Now I wasn’t quite sure about this story so, in the name of theology, I bought a goldfish from the pet story and did a little experiment. Don’t worry no animals were harmed. Yes I took the goldfish a put him in the freezer. Well guess what? He froze! But straight forward with his mouth wide open but upside down. I knew for sure he was a goner. A few hours later I went to check on my frozen fish in case some miracle happened . I had placed him on the kitchen counter in his frozen water cell. Much to my amazement the goldfish’s gills were beginning to move. A few hours later he was swimming, a little slower than before, around hi bowl. I named him Lazarus and he has a great home in a friends pond. He too received a second chance.

We have also received a second chance. God has come among us in the person of a Jesus Christ to give us a second chance. There a times in our lives that we feel frozen in our relationships. We may have done something or maybe the other person has done something to us. Our relationship with them may have been frozen for years or just a few days. However, the good news is that God is a God of second chances. He desires you and I to be thawed so we can restore our relationships. Will you allow God the chance to free you from the frozen pond separation. God has forgiven you and deeply desires to show that forgiveness to others through you.

Sometimes God offers these second chances in the most unusual circumstances. Many years ago I worked for a camp in East Texas. I was coming home from Dallas late one evening and my headlight of my car went out. A policeman pulled me over about a mile from my house. I apologized for my headlight being out and described the situation. He took my drivers licence and checked my record just in case. When he came back to the car he asked me to get of the car and put my hands against the car. He proceeded to handcuff me and read me my rights. I kept saying “it was just a headlight”. He told me there was a warrant out for my arrest.

So the officer ended up taking me to the county jail. I got my one phone call. I called my day, who is a lawyer. He hung up on me because he thought it was a crank call. He finally answered but couldn’t do anything until th enext morning. So they fingered printed me and I put on my beautiful orange uniform with flip flops. They took me down to the cell and locked the door behind me. As I looked around the room I saw four people laying on the two bunk beds and one on laying on the table. I said to God “What am I doing here?” Be careful what you ask for God may answer. Then a young man leaned over from the top bunk and said to me “John Hill is that you?” Someone actually knew me in the cell. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

It turned out that the young man worked, during the year, at the camp facilitating the water slide for guests. We talked that night about why he was there. How is mother didn’t care about him. How is friends and him had been breaking into houses and he finely got caught and thrown in jail. He was about to go in front of the judge with know one to really represent him. The next morning I got out of jail. I will tell you that story in a moment. I talked with the Executive Director and he went with this young man in front of the judge. He was able to get into a Christian home for at risk kids, finish his diploma and get a job. The young man got a second chance.

I found out later how I ended up in jail. A few years before, when I graduated from College, I wrote a check to seven/Eleven for ten dollars. When I graduated I closed my bank account and moved out of state. There was a warrant out for arrest for a ten dollar check to seven/eleven. While this is how God got me to jail. The reason I was there was to be an opportunity of second chances for a young man in need of grace.

God is a God of second chances no matter what you and I have done or will do. He will go to whatever lengths to provide a place for us to be forgiven. And when you and I receive this grace we can’t help but open ourselves up to the grace we can pass on to others so that they too may feel the warmth of God’s forgiveness in their sometimes frozen lives.

My wife and I and our two dogs left Texas on our way to the seminary in Virginia on a nice sunny day. The forecast was nice weather with a slight chance of a storm coming up the coast. Everything looked fine coming out of Tennessee. A storm had formed but it looked like we were ahead of it going into the mountains in Virginia.

Then it hit like a freight train coming out of nowhere. The snow was coming down so hard you could barely see the car in front of you! The windshield wipers were frozen over. The wind was blowing the snow across the road! Cars were sliding off the road in every direction. I was holding on to the steering wheel so tight that my knuckles were turning white. Even our dogs were sitting quietly in the back (that never happens).

When all of sudden the truck in front of us spins out of control. He does a 180 degree turn and is facing us sliding backwards. We can see the face of the gentleman. His eyes were huge knowing that we were going to run into his truck at any moment. That is when his truck slowly slides of the road into a ditch and stops. We keep going down the road until we finally come out of the storm to a nice sunny dry road.

This journey with our family is like a road trip. There are times when the sky is sunny and life seems to be going great. Then, sometimes out of nowhere, storms form and hit us by surprise. We hold on tight as the winds of various relationships blow against us. We may even feel like were going backwards facing a head on collision with someone else.

Henry Nowen told a story in his book “With Open Hands” about a woman who was being check into a mental hospital. She was holding on to some coins in her hands like it was her last possession. Nowen goes on to say that all to often we hold on to relationships in our lives like it’s our last possession.

I want you to do something right now as you read this. Hold out your arms and close your hands into a fist. Now walk up to a person near you with clinch fists. I will bet you that you were probably not received to well. Yet that is exactly what we do when we hold on to stormy relationships in our lives.

I believe God is calling us to open up our hands to let Him have the storms of our lives. It is time to let go of our relationships and let God calm these storms. God wants to take these relationships and bring forgiveness and reconciliation. I want you now to hold out your arms and open your hands wide open. Now go up to someone and see what happens. You are now in a position of openness to both give and receive with that person.

Jesus had many storms come up that hear about in scripture. He was tempted to hold on to them by all those around him. Yet he chose to come before the Father instead. Time after time in the scripture the disciple had to go find Jesus because he was off in some lonely place or on a mountain spending time with his Father. “Not my will but you will be done” he tells his Father in the garden in the midst of the biggest storm raging around him.

My hope for us on this great road trip is not that we will try to avoid the storms, they will happen, but that we will open our hands before this amazing God who promises forgiveness and reconciliation. God has a great road trip planned for you and your family. So enjoy the sunny days and when those storms come you may need to hold on tight for a while. Then open your hands to the forgiveness and reconciliation of our Father in heaven. At this point you will be open to embrace your family as your family road trip continues down the highway of life.

Have a great trip!

Laity Lodge Labor Day Family Camp

The Labor Day Family was filled with TIME for families to spend together. There were plenty of activities offered. There was climbing, rappelling, shooting, archery, Round-up, mountain biking, swimming, dancing, crafts, canoeing, hiking, tours, games and much more. Yet, the most important activity was time with one another.

Families spent time laughing, talking, eating, worshiping, and just plain being with one another. It was the most wonderful sight to see families all over the camp together. There were infants (lots of infants), toddlers, children, teens, parents and grandparents. Some of the time they were doing an organized activity but many times they were just hanging out with their family.

I am struck with how programed we have become in our family life. We have jobs, school, sports, music, vacations, scouts, exercise, and even programed family time. When was the last time you just spent time together with out planning every moment?

A big thank you to the families of the Labor Day Family Camp for showing us the need to slow down and just spend time with our families.

Families Traveled West

Families traveled west at our first week-long summer Family Camp. We landed in Texas to discover a rodeo, got lost in the Desert Southwest before finding a clue to the way to Las Vegas, went back in time to hear stories of second chances from the Bible together, and square danced our way through California.

“I wanted to tell you how much this week has meant to us. My husband is a great man but is very busy at work. This week we have been able to spend quality time together.”

“We are all back at the world and work and cherish those moments of focus and comfort we felt being together at Family Camp.”

“For me, the amazing thing about this week has been the focus on the family. I didn’t have to be focused on the next meal I have to make or a meeting I have to attend but focused on my family. And to do this in such a spectacular place has been very special.”

A big thanks to the great staff who served these families. They were tired from giving of themselves all summer in the youth camp yet allowed God to use them to care for these families.

Now take a few minutes and see and hear for yourselves what an amazing week God provided for these families by going to the following video link:

 http://www.llfamilycamp.org/video.htm

Transformation

The goal created by the Strategic Planning Oversight Committee was big and holy and audacious: By 2013, Laity will create and expand unique, powerful and effective opportunities for the transformation of this and the next generation.

Transformation is a word we used often during our strategic planning process. It means change, alteration, conversion or transfiguration.

Laity Lodge Family Camp is one of those opportunities for transformation. This past weekend, I witnessed numerous examples of transformation of this and the next generation.

One father told me that he had stopped going to church. All he saw was thirty minutes of teaching and preaching. After the weekend at family camp, he said he had experienced the Christian life the way he wanted to live it in his family, work and church.
One mother was struggling in her relationship with her teenage daughter. The mother was trying to live up to her daughter’s expectations that she be the perfect mom. At family camp the mother allowed herself to be imperfect with her daughter, and her daughter forgave her while staying in relationship. They were able to go deeper with one another.

Another father spent time playing and talking with his daughter for the first time in a long time. They did the things she liked to do, and the daughter saw that her father cared for her in a way she had not seen before.

One young couple spent valuable time together while their baby was well taken care of by the staff. This was the first time they had time for one another in a while.

Another mother, while in the midst of a divorce, recognized the power of forgiveness, even if reconciliation may not be possible. The time to hear of God’s forgiveness really helped her.

When the families arrived, there was a sense of stress. They came from a variety of stages in their lives. When they left, a playful peace spoke of the transformation in their lives. Thank you God for continuing to transform our lives in Jesus Christ through your Holy Spirit.

Time for Families

It was the end of a wonderful March Family Camp when a father came up to me with tears in his eyes and said “I wanted you to know that I really didn’t want to come this weekend. I have had a lot going on in my work and really have not had time for my family. This weekend has changed my life! Thank You!”

The Renewal of the Family is what Laity Lodge Family Camp is all about. This March Family Camp once again showed me the importance of time with our families. We live such busy lives with work, school, sports, friends, media and much more competing for our time. It is no wonder that our families are divided. Relationships take time to build. We may live in the same house but never spend any quality time listening and sharing with each other.

The March family camp was wonderful in so many ways. We had 25 families,130 people, sharing in a beautiful weekend. We had an incredible staff who served the families so well. The families were awed by their care for them. One family shared “We all felt like the LLFC Staff was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO accommodating! If we said we would like to do something it happened! The food was great; loved the fact that we didn’t have to bring sheets, blankets, towels etc.. The activities were a blast!” Families had an amazing weekend.

Yet the most amazing thing that happened was God transforming the hearts of people. Families opened up and allowed God to forgive them and in turn they forgave one another. Children saw their parents in new ways. Parents heard their children with new ears. Couples had time to share and laugh together. It is amazing what God can do when we set aside time for Him . It was a wonderful weekend of God’s Grace! Thank You God for spending time with us!!!!!

The Imagine Postcard

Imagine arriving at your family cabin at either Singing Hills or Echo Valley, late in the afternoon or early evening, everyone a bit cranky from the drive and close quarters. As you step into your cabin, you find the beds made and fresh towels enough for everyone hanging in the bathroom. A gift basket awaits you from the Laity Lodge Family Camp (LLFC) staff that contains candy, a sketch pad and crayons for the younger children as well as a family Bible. “Welcome!” the basket and made beds and prepared environment seem to say. “We are glad that you are here, together.”

The kids flop on the bed for a moment and then out the door they tumble to explore the immediate vicinity. Other kids have arrived with their families, and dinner will be ready in another hour. Parents unwind a bit from the drive.

After a good meal and greetings from the John Hill, director of the LLFC and his staff, families gather for evening Roundup. There are families from Austin, Midland, San Antonio, Houston, and even a family from California or Atlanta, Georgia. There are serious moments, funny moments, and even singing moments.

You return as a family to your cabin. No television or radios or computer games pull members into different rooms of the house. As you fall asleep, you might hear a great horned owl hooting in the distance.

The next day brings a prepared breakfast followed by a hike. Imagine hiking through the Frio Canyon with your teenagers toward the front trying to lead the way, and your younger children stopping every so often to pick up another interesting rock. Someone else, LLFC staff, has been in charge of bringing water and the band-aids. As you walk for a while, your teenager drops back to be with you and begins talking about Life. You’d almost forgotten what big thoughts your child can have in the midst of all that happens over the course of any given week. When you arrive at Circle Bluff overlooking Blue Hole, LLFC staff photograph your family as a celebration of this journey that you have taken together.

The afternoon offers a variety of activities that you can choose as a family or as individuals. What a range of things to chose from: Alpine Tower, riflery, rapeling, arts and crafts, swimming, fishing, canoeing, mountain biking and more. If couples want some time together, the children who need supervision can spend afternoon hours at Canyon Club, jumping in the castle, swimming and enjoying activities with other children under the attention of experienced LLFC counselors.

The evening closes again with a shared meal and Round-Up and perhaps a bit of dancing. Imagine square dancing as a family as the stars brighten against the night sky, and the Frio keeps pouring its faithful currents downstream.. Sunday morning offers brunch and a worship service that includes a skit by LLFC staff that brings the weekend themes to fruition. As you are peering under the beds for your youngest child’s sneakers, your middle child, who’s been helping you look, suddenly hugs you and says, “This was fun.” The drive home doesn’t seem too long. And, a few months later, as you wonder what to use as a Christmas card, you look on the refrigerator and see the portrait taken at Circle Bluff – search no more. LLFC can truly be a highlight of a family’s life.

Postcard from John Hill, Director of LLFC